Man who attacked his neighbour after drinking in her home is jailed

By Sonya McLean

A man who launched an attack on his neighbour after he had been drinking in her home has been jailed for 40 months.

Dean Lawlor (34) of Darcytown Close, Balbriggan pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting the woman at her home on May 25, 2020.

He also admitted assault causing harm to another neighbour who had tried to help her.

He has 22 previous convictions for offences including threatening and abusive behaviour.

Garda Ross Rowan told Fiona Crawford BL, prosecuting, that Lawlor called to the victim’s home as they were neighbours and had a few drinks together.

The victim’s next memory is waking up lying on the ground with bruising all over her head and body. She had no recollection of what happened her.

Gda Rowan said another neighbour had spotted the victim’s dog down the road and brought him back to the woman’s home.

When she went inside, she found pictures smashed on the floor and saw Lawlor beating up the woman.

She witnessed him hit the woman with a closed fist to her face causing blood to come from her nose and mouth and saw him try to smash the woman’s head off the kitchen counter before he pushed her against a wall.

She tried to help the woman but Lawlor attacked her, pulling her by the hair and hitting her.

The attack continued outside with the victim being kicked as she fell in her front garden.

Gda Rowan confirmed that the woman’s 14-year-old and eight-year-old sons witnessed the attack and tried to stop Lawlor beating their mother.

The gardaí were alerted and CCTV footage which covered the estate was reviewed.

A victim impact statement from the woman was handed into court but not read out. She told gardaí that her house had been destroyed but she had no memory of the assault.

She was taken to accident and emergency and kept overnight. She had many bruises and soft tissues injuries and photographs of the injuries were handed into court.

Lawlor was arrested the following day.

He initially claimed he had been acting in self-defence. He said he didn’t remember assaulting the woman outside her home but said he was ashamed when he was shown footage of this attack.

Gda Rowan agreed with Patrick Jackson BL, defending, that his client has no history of violence in his criminal convictions. He is a father of two.

Counsel told Judge Martin Nolan that his client didn’t realise the extent of the attack until the gardaí showed him the footage.

Judge Nolan said there was no clear motivation for what caused the attack and said the woman must have been knocked unconscious at some point because she has no memory of it.

He said he must infer from the injuries and cuts to her face that she was struck a number of times.

Judge Nolan accepted Lawlor’s plea of guilty and expression of remorse and accepted that he is ashamed of himself.

“They are bad assaults on pretty defenceless people,” he said before he sentenced Lawlor to 40 months in prison backdated to when he first went into custody last month.